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Saturday, 11 February 2017

Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday finalized the settlement between land and homeowners in the two kilometer stretch in the middle of the 18-kilometer expressway and the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA).

NEW DELHI: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has cleared the way for the completion of the Dwarka-Manesar Expressway in Gurgaon which had been held up because of land acquisition issues.

The court today finalized the settlement between land and homeowners in the two kilometer stretch in the middle of the 18-kilometer expressway and the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA). About 700 people whose homes and lands came in the way of the expressway had contested acquisition of the land. Negotiations between the owners and the authority had been on for the last four months.

Of the 15 writ petitions that have been filed, 11 that pertain to the New Palam Vihar colony have been disposed off while others related to a 200 meter stretch at the edge of the expressway close to NH8 and some others will be heard by the two-judge bench of justices SK Mittal and HS Sidhu next week.

The petitioners and the HUDA have come to a settlement whereby the homeowners will get alternative land close by, in sectors 110A and 37C of Gurgaon, as well as compensation to rebuild their homes.

"The settlement is very favourable to the land owners as they get larger sized plots, opportunity to pay for the extra land in eight years over eight interest free installments and also money for construction for those whose houses were already constructed," said Shailendra Jain, senior advocate who was the counsel for all the petitioners in the case.

Amar Vivek, additional advocate general for Haryana who was representing the state of Haryana and HUDAsaid that possession of vacant land has been given to the authority today and construction of the expressway can start immediately.

This settlement is significant because around 40,000 apartments are being built in residential projects along the expressway and some of them have been completed as well but their access was restricted because the road which was being built by Indiabulls Construction since 2011 was not completed in time.

Homeowners in New Palam Vihar have been given time till January 31, 2016, to vacate their homes. In this period their new lands will be handed over to them and they can start construction if they wish.

"Residential and commercial office sales in this area were badly impacted as there was uncertainty around the road for a long time. The 40,000 home buyers will now be relieved," said Arjun Puri, managing director of Puri Constructions, which is building apartments along the expressway.

The 18-km long Northern Peripheral Road or Dwarka-Manesar Expressway as it is popularly known is being developed as an alternative link between Delhi and Gurgaon. Over the years, around 100 residential developments were launched in the stretch with close to 40,000 apartments.